Stuffed Dates

Prep: 20 Minutes

Cook: 0 Minutes

Serves: 30 dates

Estimated calorie: 75 calories per one

RECIPE BY: Sana Hounain

Dish Name: Stuffed Dates

Dish Country: Moroccan

Ingredients

-1 pound of medjool dates

-1 cup of almonds

-1/4 cup of sugar or honey

-1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

-3 tablespoons of orange blossom water (1 tbsp for flavoring the almond paste and 2 tablespoons for cleaning the dates)

-2 tablespoons

-2 tablespoons of melted butter

-Food coloring (optional)

Step-By-Step Preparation

-Blanch the almonds for two minutes, drain them, and peel them shortly after that.

-Let the peeled almonds cool down.

-To make the almond paste, grind the almonds using a food processor until it turns to a fine powder.

-In a mixing bowl, hand mix the ground almonds, sugar, and cinnamon. -Add in the melted butter and orange blossom water until you form a paste. -You may immediately use the almond paste, or you can divide and color it if desired. -To get the dates ready for stuffing, first of all, take a clean delicate cloth, dip it in the remaining orange blossom water and wipe the dates carefully one by one, so as to get rid of any undesirable residues on the dates. Then, carefully make a vertical slit with a knife so as to remove the pit, and engage tge cavity of the date for the filling. Make sure not to halve the date.

-Now, taking into consideration the size of your dates, form small cylinders of your almond paste. Open up each date and insert the almond paste cylinder, press delicately the edges of the date around the paste, leaving part of the paste exposed as shown on the picture.

-Repeat the sane procedure for all dates. -You have the option to further decorate your stuffed dates by scoring the exposed paste with a knife to form small diamond shapes.

-You may also roll the exposed paste in granulated sugar or shredded coconut.

-You may serve it immediately or store it in the fridge in an airtight container.